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Kendrick swung his legs off the mattress and glared right back. “Don’t be an idiot, Gilbride. We’re on a mountain, without proper supplies, in November. We were simply trying to stay warm.”
“Bollocks. I know what I saw, ye bastard. Ye took advantage of Donella,” Alasdair snapped.
Logan swiftly rose and dragged on his greatcoat.
“If ye call me a bastard again, Gilbride, I’ll knock yer bloody teeth down yer throat.”
Splendid. Now Kendrick’s brogue was up, too.
“No one is punching anyone,” she exclaimed. “There isnoreason to do so.”
“Ye were in bed together. Ye were under his coat, bloody plastered against each other like—”
Donella hauled off and smacked her cousin on the shoulder. “Cease that ridiculous brogue, Alasdair. And do not contradict me. When I say nothing happened,nothinghappened.”
“Told ye,” Kendrick said with a smirk.
Donella pointed at him. “Stop talking right now.”
He opened his mouth, then clearly thought better of it.
She turned back to her cousin. “Alasdair, I promise on my honor that nothing untoward happened between us.”
“He’s a Kendrick,” her cousin scoffed. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“Yes, and Lord Arnprior and his brothers are your friends. Youknowthem.”
“Which is exactly why I don’t trust them. Well, I trust Nick, but I don’t trust him. I know exactly what kind of man Logan Kendrick is.”
“It takes one to know one,” Kendrick said with typical masculine idiocy.
Just as typically, Alasdair rose to the bait. “All right, Kendrick. We’re taking this outside. Donella, you wait here until it’s finished.”
She rather wished she had a pistol, so she could shoot them both. Instead she limped over to the door and braced her hands on the doorframe.
“Be careful of your foot,” Kendrick warned.
She ignored him. “There will be no fisticuffs or dueling,” she said to her cousin.
Alasdair’s gaze went even flintier. “Get out of the way, Donella.”
“No.”
“Best do as he says, lass,” Kendrick said. “I won’t have him insulting your virtue.”
“My virtue is not insulted. Besides, Alasdair ismyrelative. He’s allowed to be stupid.”
Her cousin bristled. “I am not being stupid.”
“Actually, insulted isn’t quite right,” Kendrick said, frowning. “Impugned is more accurate.”
Donella wished the chamber pot was within throwing distance. “It’s not up to you or Alasdair to decide if my virtue has been impugned. Or insulted. Oranything.”
“No, it’s up to Grandfather,” Alasdair said. “And he’ll not be best pleased to hear about this.”
He waved an arm to take in their disheveled state, as if that explained everything.
“There is no reason for him to know about it,” she said. “Unless you can’t keep your bloody mouth shut.”
